Tank history
WW2 WW1WW1 - World
War I; Between the Wars; Germany; WW2 World War II; Germany;
Post-WWII

Battleship
War Naval Strategy GameNaval strategy battleship game
covers complete World War 2 navy operations,
contains 150 missions, Death-Match and Free Hunt
missions & campaigns from Lamansh and Pearl
Harbor to Iwo Jima and Leyte battle. Player can
produce new ships/planes/subs/artillery/radar
units during the game

Table of contents
1 WW1 World War I
2 Between the Wars
2.1 Germany
3 WW2 World War II
3.2 Germany
4 Post-WWII

Tank historyWW1 - World War I

Before World War I, motorized vehicles were still
relatively uncommon, and their use on the battlefield was
initially limited, especially of heavier vehicles. The
earliest motorized AFVs were tractors with crude metal
plates bolted on to give some protection to the driver
and passengers. Lighter armoured cars soon became
commonplace with all the belligerents.
The British led the way in the development of tanks,
although the name was not yet decided. In February 1915
the Landship Committee was set up, initially to
investigate desgins for a massive troop transporter but
as a truer picture of front-line conditions was developed
the aims of the investigation changed. Together with the
older Inventions Committee a requirement was formulated
for an armoured vehicle capable of 4 mph, climbing a five
feet high parapet, crossing an eight feet wide gap, and
armed with machine guns and light cannon. A similar
proposal was working its way through the Army GHQ in
France and in June the Landship Committee was made a
joint service venture between the War Office and the
Admiralty (the Naval involvement was through the RNAS
Armoured Car Division) and the designs began.

The early work on
protecting heavy gun tractors appeared promising. Early
'big wheel' designs sooned proved deficient but adapting
the existing Holt Company caterpillar designs into a
fighting machine proved difficult. While armour and
weapon systems were easy to acquire, existing caterpillar
and suspension units were too weak and existing engines
were notably underpowered for the armoured behemoths in
the designers' minds. Despite these problems a contract
was placed with Foster in late July to produce a
proof-of-concept vehicle and contruction work began three
weeks later.

Foster produced the 14 ton "Little Willie".
Powered by a 105 hp Daimler engine, the ten-foot high
armoured box was fitted with a low Bullock caterpillar. A
rotating top turret was planned with a 57 mm gun but
abandoned due to weight problems, leaving the final
vehicle unarmed and little more than a test-bed for the
difficult track system. The next design shared few common
features with "Little Willie", to achieve the
demanded gap clearence a rhomboidal shape was chosen -
stretching the form to improve the track footprint and
keep a low centre of gravity, the rotating turret design
was dropped in favour of sponsons on the sides of the
hull fitted with Naval 57 mm guns. A final specification
was agreed in late September for trials in early 1916,
during construction the vehicle was code-named 'tank', a
name that seems to have stuck. the 30 ton "Big
Willie" and also "Little Willie" underwent
trials at Hatfield Park on January 29 and February 2,
1916. Attendees at the second trial included Lord
Kitchener, Lloyd George, McKenna and other political
luminaries. On February 12 an initial order for 100
"Big Willie" type vehicles was made.

The first fifty were delivered to France on August 30.
They were 'male' or 'female', depending upon whether
their armament was the 57 mm guns or multiple smaller
Hotchkiss or Vickers machine guns. the crew was eight,
four of whom were needed to handle the steering, by
differential braking. The tanks were capable of 4 mph,
matching the speed of marching infantry with whom they
were to be integrated to aid in the destruction of enemy
machine guns.

From the site Photos of the Great War The first use of
tanks on the battlefield was the use of 49 British Mk.I
tanks at the Battle of the Somme (1916) on September 15,
1916, but most of the machines broke down and the attempt
proved nothing. Of the forty-nine tanks shipped to the
Somme, only thirty-two were able to begin the first
attack in which they were used, and only nine made it
across "no man's land" to the German lines.
The Mark I's were not capable of performing on a real
battlefield even when they were working. They could cross
trenches or craters of nine feet, but the artillery in
use at the time often made craters too large and too deep
for a tank to cross or climb out of. Only the lighter
French tank, the chars Schneider, could climb a
forty-five degree slope. Engine power was the primary
limitation; the one hundred horsepower maximum gave a
power-to-weight ratio of 3.3 hp/ton (the German Mark III
of the 1930s, which weighed 25 tons and had a 300-hp
engine -- 12 hp/ton. By the end of the 20th century,
power-to-weight ratios exceeded 20 hp/ton.) Travelling at
walking pace and fitted with only 10 mm of low quality
steel armour they were extremely vulnerable to artillery
fire.

Many feel that because the British Commander Field
Marshal Douglas Haig was himself a horse cavalryman, his
command failed to appreciate the value of tanks. In fact,
horse cavalry doctrine in World War I was to "follow
up a breakthrough with harassing attacks in the
rear", but there were no breakthroughs on the
Western Front until the tanks came along. Despite this
view of Haig, he approved an order for 1,000 tanks
shortly after the failure at the Somme.

From the site Photos of the Great War The French used
tanks for the first time on 16 April, 1917, during the
Nivelle offensive. It was major failure; the St. Chamond
tanks, that didn't have the ability to cross trenches as
the British one could, were sent to the enemy lines
without infantry support.
The first successful use of tanks came in the Battle of
Cambrai in 1917. British General J.F.C. Fuller, chief of
staff of the Tank Corps, planned the battle. The tanks
made an unprecedented breakthrough, but the British
failed to exploit the opportunity. Ironically, it was the
soon-to-be-supplanted horse cavalry that had been
assigned the task of following up the motorized tank
attack.

From the site Photos of the Great War Tanks became much
more efficient as the lessons of the early tanks was
absorbed. The British produced the Mark IV in 1917,
similar to the early Marks in appearance its construction
was more considered to produce a more reliable machine
and the long-barreled Naval guns were shortened, armour
was increased just enough to defeat the German
armour-piercing bullet. The continued need for four men
to drive the tank was solved with the Mark V in 1918.
Also in 1918 the French produced the Renault FT-17. It
was small and light compared to its predecessors (and to
modern standards) at just 14 tons, conceived for mass
production, operated by two men only, and equipped with a
rotating turret with only a single heavy machine gun.
Simple and cheap the FT-17 was used by all the Allies,
the British produced a similar two-man tank, the Medium A
Whippet.
The first tank-versus-tank battles took place 24 April
1918. It was an unexpected meeting engagement between
three German A7Vs and three British Mk.IVs at Villers-
Bretonneux.

Later, Fuller's Plan 1919 for an offensive was the
inspiration for German blitzkrieg tactics in World War
II. The plan itself was never used because the blockade
of Germany brought an end to the war. As a military
planner and later journalist, Fuller continued to develop
his doctrine of using tanks supported by infantry to
break through enemy lines to attack communications in the
rear.

Tank history - Between the Wars
The final tank designs of 1918 showed a number of trends.
The British produced the Mark VIII with the Americans,
the pinnacle of the rhomboidal design the 34 ft long, 37
ton machine was powered by a 300 hp V-12 nd capable of 7
mph cross-country. It was clear from the designs of other
nations that the rhomboidal design was not going to
dominate future development, tanks with lower track
profiles, more compact hulls and turrets were produced by
the Italians, French and Germans.

Beyond the designs tanks became a political issue. In
Britain, military opinion was divided on the future of
tank warfare. J.F.C. Fuller was convinced that only the
tank had a future on the battlefield. Basil Liddell Hart
foresaw a war where all arms, infanty, tanks and
artillery, would be mechanised, resembling fleets of
'land ships'. Liddell Hart would be proved right, but it
would not be for sixty years that even the richest armies
would make his ideas a reality.

In the U.S., J. Walter Christie developed a series of
fast tanks, based on his revolutionary Christie
suspension chassis. Although his prototypes were capable
of high speeds, and in some cases designed to be air
transportable, disputes with the Ordnance and a high
price (compared with what the US military was willing to
pay) meant they were never produced. His prototypes were
however purchased by the Soviet Union, and were to be
developed into the admirable T-34.

Tank history - Germany
Germany, constrained by the terms of the Treaty of
Versailles, was not allowed to produce tanks of any kind
and only a few armoured cars. In 1926 an unofficial
program of tank construction was initiaited by Von
Seeckt, the commander of the Reichswehr. Built by
Rheinmetall-Borsig the first grosstraktor was similar to
the existing British Mk II medium tank, 20 tons with a 75
mm gun. This and other designs were tested with Soviet
cooperation at a tank school in western Russia. In
Germany proper dummy tanks were used in training,
apparantly at the instigation of then Major, Heinz
Guderian, a staff tactical instructor. Guderian had read
Fuller, Liddell-Hart and other tank warfare theorists and
he had the support of his commanders to develop his
theories into reality. In 1931 the German General Staff
accepted a plan for two types of tank, a medium tank with
a 75 mm gun and a lighter vehicle with a 37 mm gun. While
design and then construction work was carried out the
German army used a variety of light tanks based on the
British Carden-Lloyd chassis. The early tanks were
code-named Landwirtschaftlicher Schleppers (La S), a
designation that lasted until 1938. The first of these
light tanks ran in ealy 1934, a five ton Krupp design it
was dubbed the LKA1. The new government approved an
initial order for 150 in 1934 as the 1A La S Krupp,
around 1500 of these light tanks were built.
Later German tanks received a new designation,
Panzerkampfwagen (PzKpfw or PzKw). The first machine to
use this was the two-man PzKpfw I Ausf A, a 5.4 ton
machine with a 3.5 litre 60 hp petrol engine it had 13 mm
of armour and was armed with twin 7.92 mm machine guns.
The more common Ausf B was a trifle larger to accommodate
a 100 hp Maybach engine. Both models were sent to the
Spanish Civil War for testing, along with other new
German weapons. From Spain it quickly became clear that
the next generation of tanks would need better armour,
greater range and much heavier weapons. The PzKpfw II was
around 50% heavier than the I and added a 20 mm Solothurn
cannon as main armament as well as increasing maximum
armour to 30 mm. Also sent to Spain from 1937, the PzKpfw
II proved more capable against light infantry, but no
better when faced with capable anti-tank guns or other
tanks. Despite these weaknesses production continued
until 1941, at the outbreak of war the German Army had
955 PzKpfw IIs and almost 4000 were built in total.

A major boost to German armour came with the acquisition
of Czechoslovakia in 1938, giving the entire Czech arms
industry to Germany. The Czechs already had two main tank
designs, the Skoda LT35 and the Cesko-moravska Kolben
Danek (CKD) TNHP. The Skoda was a 10 ton machine with a
37 mm main gun and excellent cross-country capabilities;
the CKD was 8.5 tons and also fitted with a 37 mm gun -
due to extensive tests it was an extremely reliable
machine with a top quality chassis. Both were taken into
the German panzer forces, as the PzKpfw 35(t) and the
PzKpfw 38(t), and futher production was ordered. CKD was
renamed Böhmisch-Mährische Maschinenfabrik AG (BMM) in
1940 and continued production until 1942, providing the
Wehrmacht with 1,168 PzKpfw 38(t)'s. In 1940 Czech tanks
made up around a quarter of the entire German panzer
force.

Lighter tanks formed almost the entirety of the German
forces heavier tanks were at least in prototype. In 1934
a number of heavy prototypes were constructed, based
around either 75 or 105 mm main guns. Designated
Neubaufahrzeug (NbFz) and very similar to contemporary
Russian and British designs six were built by Rheinmetall
and Krupp. Useful for propaganda purposes these tanks did
not enter production, their later designations of PzKpfw
V and VI were transferred to the production Panther and
Tiger types. With the knowledge of the NbFz and the
experiences of the lighter tanks in Spain, German
designers began to create their own designs. The PzKpfw
III as the first German tank capable of firing
armour-piercing rounds, although the 37 mm gun was
considered underpowered it was used in the interests of
standardisation with the infantry. Limited by existing
bridges to a maximum weight of 24 tons development
contracts for the Zugkraftwagen were issued late in 1936.
Development work continued until 1938 when the Ausf D
went into limited production, a 19 ton machine it was
powered by a 12 litre 320 hp engine, with a top speed of
25 mph and fitted with 30 mm armour all round. By the
outbreak of war around fifty had been completed and some
saw service in Poland. Full-scale production did not
begin until October 1939 as the Ausf E, around 350 PzKpfw
IIIs in D and E variants were ready by the invasion of
France.

Tank history - World War II
During World War II, the tank reached new heights of
capability and sophistication. The early German tanks
were technologically inferior to many of their opponents'
tanks in the areas of armor and weaponry; however, were
used most skilfully to achieve surprising strategic
victories early in the war. The German doctrine stressed
the use of combined-arms involving infantry and air
support, and the tactic of the Blitzkrieg (lightning
warfare). Furthermore, the Germans were quick to supply
their tanks with radios, which provided unmatched
command/control.

It was true that nothing larger than machine guns could
be mounted in any turret that this vehicle could carry.
But with this disadvantage, it could be made ready for
action by 1934 and it would at least serve as a training
tank until our real combat tanks began to appear. [...]
Nobody in 1932 could have guessed that one day we should
have to go into action with this little training tank.

The largest tank ever built was the Maus, designed in
1942 by Ferdinand Porsche under direct order from Adolf
Hitler. Weighing 188 tons, the Maus was armed with a
128mm cannon and a coaxial 75mm gun, and covered with
180-240mm of armour. Only two prototypes were built, and
both were lost while still undergoing testing. One of the
Maus prototypes currently resides in the Museum of
Armoured Forces in Kubinka Russia.

Tanks were adapted to various uses during WWII including
mine-sweeping tanks, and flame-thrower tanks.

(What's the true story behind the Maus in the museum?
There are conflicting stories. In one version, both were
scuttled at the factory prior to Soviet occupation, in
another, one fought briefly before being captured.)

The German Panzer force at the start of the war was not
especially impressive. Guderian had planned for two main
tanks, the PzKpfw III was in production but the second
support tank with a 75 mm gun was not. Designated the
PzKpfw IV design work had begun in 1935 and trials of
prototypes was undertaken in 1937, but by the time of the
invasion of Poland only a few 'troop trial' models were
available. The development work was then halted and
limited production begun by Krupp in Gruson, Essen and
Bochum.

There were also problems with the PzKpfw III, it was
widely considered to be under-gunned with a 37 mm KwK L45
and production was split between four manufacturers (MAN,
Daimler-Benz, Rheinmetall-Borsig, and Krupp) with little
regard for each firms expertise, the rate of production
was initially very low - taking until November 1940 to
reach 100 examples a month. The Panzer force for the
early German victories was a mix of the PzKpfw I and II,
machine-gun only light tanks, and the Czech tanks. By May
1940 349 PzKpfw III's were available for the attacks on
France and the Low Countries. A few elite divisions were
equipped with the new tanks and they featured prominently
in the newsreels and photographs of the invasion.

The actual invasion, the Blitzkrieg, was an amazing
success due to tactical innovation rather than tank
quality. Guderian, von Kleist and other commanders such
as Rommel broke the hiatus of the Phoney War in a manner
almost outside the comprehension of Allied commanders. In
actual tank-on-tank encounters the German armour
performed poorly, in one particular encounter near Arras
the VII Panzer division was badly mauled by the
'Matildas' of the British 1st Tank Brigade, one British
tank carried on operating after fourteen hits by German
37 mm guns.

The recognition that the PzKpfw III was under-gunned had
been identified during its conception and its design
included a large turret ring to make it possible to fit a
2250 fps 50 mm KwK L42 gun on later models. In June 1940
the first of these models were being made and some saw
action in the final weeks of the Battle of France.
Designated the PzKpfw III Ausf F, other changes included
upgrading the Maybach engine and numerous minor changes
to ease production.

The Ausf F was quickly supplanted by the Ausf G which was
the main tank of the Afrika Korps in 1940-41 and also saw
action in Yugoslavia and Greece. Around 2,150 PzKpfw IIIs
were produced of which around 450 were the Ausf G. These
tanks were still under-gunned, poorly armoured and
mechanically over-complex in comparison to the British
tanks, after fighting in Libya in late 1940 The Ausf H
was put into production with simpler mechanics, wider
tracks and improved armour. In April 1941 there was a
general 'recall' of the PzKpfw III to upgrade the main
gun to the new 50 mm L60, with the new Panzergranate 40
shell, muzzle velocity was pushed to 3875 fps. New tanks
produced with this gun were designated Ausf J.

The invasion of Russia in Operation Barbarossa signalled
an enormous change in German tank development. In July
1941 36 Panzer divisions were assigned, almost 8,000
Panzer in total, to the invasion. In November 1941 these
tanks first encountered the Russian T-34 and they were
totally outclassed in every aspect of battle performance.
A little later the American made M3 and then M4 tanks
were being used in the Western Desert, outclassing German
armour in that theatre too.

As an immediate measure the PzKpfw III's armour was
upgraded to 70 mm by additional plates and to protect
against hollow charge attacks spaced armour was
introduced. But the PzKpfw III was clearly outclassed and
production was ended in August 1943 with the Ausf N, the
vehicle having been up-gunned to a 75 mm L24 and
down-graded to a support role. The PzKpfw III chassis did
continue to be made until the end of the war as the base
of a range of special purpose vehicles.

Slow production of the PzKpfw IV had been continuing, by
the end of 1940 386 Ausf Ds were in service and in 1941 a
further 480 were produced, this was despite an order from
the army for 2,200. The short 75 mm gun was the main
advantage of the PzKpfw IV, weight and armour were close
to that of the PzKpfw III. The PzKpfw IV became the most
numerous tank of the Panzer divisions, although already
outclassed in 1942 it was easy to maintain and simpler to
produce than other German tanks. The Ausf E was the major
production variant, although the Ausf F with a long high
velocity gun was the most impressive performer. First
introduced in 1940 the 22 ton machine was progressively
improved, with the addition of the L43 gun the most
significant change - it could penetrate 80 mm of armour
at 1800 m. Later variants further improved the gun but
were mainly characterised by increasing the main armour
and adding spacer and skirt armour to protect against
anti-tank weapons. Zimmerit paste, to prevent magnetic
charges attaching was also introduced on the PzKpfw IV.
About 12,000 PzKpfw III variants were produced during the
war, more than twice as many as the next tank.

Despite continued efforts with the ligher tanks
throughout the war the German designers did produce a
direct counter to the heavier Allied tanks with the
PzKpfw V, the Panther (in 1944 the PzKpfw designation was
dropped and the vehicle was known simply as the Panther).
Design work on the replacement for the PzKpfw IV had
begun in 1937 and prototypes were being tested in 1941.
The emergence of the T-34 lead to an acceleration of this
leisurely time-table. At the insistence of Guderian a
team was dispatched to Russia in November 1941 to assess
the T-34 and report. Three features of the Russian tank
were considered as most significant, top was the sloping
armour all round which gave much improved shot deflection
and also increased the armour thickness against
penetration; second was the wide track and large road
wheels which improved stability; and third was the long
over-hanging gun, a feature German designers had avoided
up to then. Daimler-Benz and MAN were immediatley tasked
with designing and building a new 30-35 ton tank by next
Spring. At the same time the existing prototype tanks
were up-gunned to 88 mm and ordered into prodction as the
PzKpfw VI, the Tiger.

The two T-34 influenced proposals were delivered in April
1942. The Daimler-Benz design was a 'homage' to the T-34,
ditching the propensity for engineering excellence, and
hence complexity, to produce a clean, simple design with
plenty of potential. The MAN design were more
conventional to German thinking and was the one accepted
by the Waffenprufamt 6 committee. A prototype was
demanded by May and design detail work was assigned to
Kniepkampf.

If the over-hanging gun and sloping armour are ignored
the Panther is a conventional German design, its internal
layout for the five crew was standard and it mechanicals
were complex. Weighing 43 tons it was powered by a 700 hp
12 litre Maybach petrol engine driving eight
double-leaved bogie wheels on each side, control was
through a seven-speed synchromesh epicyclic box and
hydraulic disc brakes. The armour was homogenous steel
plate, welded but also interlocked for strength, orginal
models had only 60 mm armour this was soon increased to
80 mm on the production Ausf D and later models had a
maximum of 120 mm. Skirt protection and Zimmerit coating
also became standard. The main gun was a 75 mm L70 with
79 rounds, supported by one or two MG 34 mahine guns.

The MAN design was officially accepted in September 1942
and put into immediate production with top priority,
finished tanks were being produced just two months later
and suffered from relaibility problems as a result of
this haste. With a production target of 600 vehciles a
month the work had to be expanded out of MAN to include
Daimler-Benz and in 1943 the firms of Maschinenfabrik
Niedersachsen and Henschel. Due to disruption monthly
production never approached the target, peaking in 1944
with 330 a month and ending around February 1945 with
4814 built. The Panther first saw action around Kursk on
July 5, 1943.

Tank history - Post-WWII
Since WWII, most of the changes in tank design have been
refinements to targeting, ranging, and stabilization
equipment, and to communications, and crew comfort.
Armour has evolved to keep pace with improvements in
weaponry, and guns have gotten bigger, but in most cases
have not fundamentally changed.

The design and budgeting of tanks has known severe ups
and downs since the end of World War II. Right after the
war tank design budgets were cut and engineering staff
often scattered. Many war planners believed that the tank
was obsolete, now that nuclear weapons were on the scene.
It was felt that a tactical nuclear weapon would destroy
any brigade or regiment, wether it was armored or not.
The Korean war proved that tanks were still useful on the
battlefield, given the hesitation of the great powers to
use nuclear weapons.

The tank was once more pronounced obsolete and budgets
dived a bit after the Yom Kippur War of 1973 when Israeli
tanks were destroyed in unheard of quantities by wire
guided precision missiles, fired by enemy infantry.
Subsequent analysis showed, over the years, that Israeli
forces had underestimated their opponents during the
first phases of the war, but had developed tactics to
lessen the importance of wire guided missiles, during the
last phases of the war. Budgets for tank design and
production really picked up only during the
administration of the U.S. president Ronald Reagan, as
the cold war started to get hot.

With the end of the cold war in 1989 questions once again
started sprouting concerning the relevance of the
traditional tank. Over the years many nations cut back
the number of their tanks or replaced most of them with
lightweight Armored fighting vehicles with only minimal
armour protection.

During the latter half of the 20th century, some tanks
were armed with ATGMs (Anti-Tank Guided Missiles) which
could be launched through the main gun barrel. In the
U.S., the M60A2, M551 Sheridan, and prototype MBT-70,
with 152mm barrel/launchers, used the Shillelagh infrared
missile. The MBT-70 was cancelled prior to production due
to high cost, and superseded by the M1 Abrams, which used
a conventional gun. Both the M551 and the M60A2 were
widely considered failures; expensive, unreliable, and
difficult to maintain. They were replaced by M60A3's
(using conventional guns) and M2 Bradleys. ATGMs are
currently mounted on lighter AFVs, such as the M901 ITV
and the M2/M3 Bradley.

Text is available under
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